Project Management Organizational Structures Paper

A project organization is a structure that facilitates the coordination and implementation of project activities. Its main incentive is to create an environment that encourages interactions among the project personnel with a minimum amount of distractions, overlaps and conflicts. At the start of every project, it is important to first select the organization structure. On the basis of unique characteristics of the project, each project structure various forms its own advantages and disadvantages. The main goal of an organizational structure is to reduce confusion and uncertainty that is almost certain to occur in a project’s early stages. The structure defines the relationships among members of the project management and the relationships it has with its stakeholders. It does this by using an organizational chart. There are three organizational structures that will be the focus of this paper and they are functional structure, matrix structure and pure project structure. There are many project considerations that need to be taken into account when choosing a project management structure. The size of the project is one of the main concerns since it is an all encompassing topic that needs to be addressed early on in the timeline. Next is strategic importance. Who or what stands to gain from the success of this project? There is also the need for innovation and technology. Projects are sometimes meant to break boundaries and existing resources might not be able to cut it. The project manager needs to see if the required technologies will be developing along side the project to ensure it’s on time completion. Also, there is the need for integration, which is if multiple departments need to be involved. Sometimes departments run on different schedules and uniting them together means some very tricky scheduling. Having this schedule written up and agreed upon by all departments can make this much easier to accomplish. There is also environmental complexity, which is